LITTLE ITALY — It's Monday afternoon and Taylor Street shop owner Jim Salamie is fielding a call from Union Station.
"We're about a five-, 10-minute drive," Salamie says to the caller.
Ever since opening his second Sight N' Sound smoke shop at 1137 W. Taylor St. in March, giving directions has become part of his routine, Salamie said, as he's been inundated with out-of-town visitors who come to Taylor Street to fulfill their smoking needs.
With two new smoke shops, an old-school cigar shop and a hookah bar, Taylor Street — long known for its Italian cuisine — is also becoming a destination for smokers, where old smoking traditions meld with new high-tech smoking trends.
Ralph's Cigars, Little Italy's oldest existing cigar shop at 1032 W. Taylor St., has been in business since 1997 and offers an extensive selection of fine cigars. Inside the shop Monday afternoon, a half-dozen men puffed away, cracking jokes in between.
Two blocks away at 1129 W. Taylor St., the BYOB Sinbad Hookah's lounge caters to a younger crowd and offers more than 30 flavors of tobacco. The lounge also sells hookah hoses and tobacco for smokers who prefer to imbibe at home.
Following Sight N' Sound's March opening, Smoke Shop by Pipes & Stuff XX opened at 1333 W. Taylor St. in September. In addition to hitters, and cigarettes, the second smoke shop brings more high-priced glass pipes, vaporizers and e-cigarette devices to the marketplace.
Smoke Shop by Pipes & Stuff XX opened in September at 1333 W. Taylor St. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
Hamd Kamal, a 21-year-old DePaul University student and proprietor of the new smoke shop, said his clients, which include the late-night bar crowds, UIC students and smokers from the suburbs, appreciate being able to drop by late — the shop doesn't close until midnight Monday-Saturday.
And business is booming. Since opening, Smoke Shop by Pipes & Stuff XX has sold more Pax brand vaporizers than any other smoke shop in Illinois, Kamal said. The $275 device heats the tobacco up to a precise temperature, promising a healthier smoking experience without producing secondhand smoke.
While some smoking devices sold in smoke shops can be used to smoke marijuana, including medical marijuana, which was recently made legal in Illinois, Kamal said his shop sells devices only intended for use with legal tobacco products.
At Sight N' Sound, Salamie said the smoking culture has completely transformed in the last three years, thanks to a building demand for high-priced, designer glass pipes that sell for $1,000 and up.
When he opened the first Sight N' Sound with his brother Joe Salamie in the 1970s, hippies were "smoking out of old wood pipes, and metal. They would make [pipes] out of lamp parts," Salamie said, laughing. "Now, people are coming for the glass."
And while a typical glass hand pipe still costs $20, the smoking culture is becoming more and more upscale, his son Kasey Salamie said earlier this year. Smokers willing to spend big bucks on a high-end glass pipe view the item as part art, part utensil.
After decades in the business, Jim Salamie decided to open his second Sight N' Sound smoke shop at 1137 W. Taylor St. in March. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
Within a few weeks of opening, Sight N' Sound had already sold a glass piece for more than $5,000. Collectors into the designer glass pipe "subculture" compete over the status symbols, Kasey Salamie said.
"Like anything, some people want to nicest stuff in life, and this is [an item] that some people use every day," Salamie said. "It's art 100 percent to them."
Since opening, people have come to the Taylor Street shop "from all over the country," in search of the newest glass pieces from the hottest artists, Jim Salamie said, including recent visitors from Alabama and Maine. Much of the demand is fueled by advertising on Instagram, where Sight N' Sound can reach smokers all over the world.
As of Monday, Salamie had two pieces in store that will retail for $20,000 each — a yellow duck piece made through an artist collaboration between San Diego-based artist Ryno Glass and Japanese artist Yoshinori Kondo and a red dragon glass piece by Ryno Glass and Disk Glass.
Sight N' Sound is now selling two designer glass pipes that will retail for $20,000 each. Both change color under light. [DNAinfo/Stephanie Lulay]
Because they specialize in serving different types of smokers, Jim Salamie said the Taylor Street shops are supportive of each other. When Sinbad Hookah unexpectedly runs out of a certain flavor of tobacco, they'll head to Sight N' Sound to restock and employees at Ralph's Cigars will refer customers looking for specialized smoking equipment to the nearby shop, too.
Kathy Catrambone, executive director of University Village Association, a neighborhood group that works with Little Italy businesses, said the latest round of smoke shops were approved by the city before opening.
"We really didn't know about [the two new smoke shops] until they opened, but we haven't heard any complaints," Catrambone said.
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